from our correspondent in Bari
It was not an easy year. It has not been for people, restricted at home or severely restricted. It was not for the job, never so precarious. And not even for companies, which have had to deal with the side effects of coronavirus. In this less than pleasant picture, there is a touch of optimism: it is called Made in Italy. According to the Ice-Istat report, during the pandemic “the contribution of exports to Italy’s GDP was less unfavorable” than other components, and above all, the beautiful country among the G8 countries “ranks second in terms of smaller decline in exports “. Much better than France, the UK and the US. And if the shack has not collapsed and for 2021 the estimates speak of results above the pre-Covid levels, it is probably due precisely to the excellence of the Made in Italy which can be “fly for the restart”.
Numerous high-level guests have heard of this from the Petruzzelli theater in Bari. “It must be a restart of the made in Italy, which means not only knowing how to do but also knowing how to attract”, is the starting point for the first round table of The Restart, kermesse conceived by Nicola Porro in order to bring together the protagonists of the Italian recovery. The beautiful country in the center, of course. Guido grimaldi, commercial director of Grimaldi Group, points the finger at the Italian education system, which produces thousands of lawyers and economists and then there are no doctors on board, professionals in port logistics, hubs. Jobs that would earn “even two or three times more” than an economist collects, but that companies are unable to fill. Which is the same “lack of craftsmen” that he complains about Marco Pozzo, CEO of Driade and FontanArte: “We can export, thanks to our brand, but who produces quality products for us if there are no workers?”.
Sir Rocco Forte, president of Rocco Forte Hotels, instead asks the government to “change the labor law”, to allow companies to be competitive. Great space a Fabio Lazzerini, CEO of Ita, the “new” Italian airline that will have to take the legacy of Alitalia. Thursday morning, at 6.20, the green light came from Brussels: after “answering 160 questions”, presenting “15 business plans” and “doing a counter” with Europe, Ita finally “convinced the European bureaucrats on the goodness of the project “. “They were complicated conversations – added Lazzerini – because we and the Italian government side have always had the perception that the plan was already very discontinuous with respect to past experiences. The European Commission, in an absolutely legitimate way, also has a duty of fairness and transparency on the various processes and safeguarding in view of future, probable or, possible appeals to the European Court of Justice for this departure of a company financed with public money, even if from a totally private perspective “. The only problem: it is not certain that the Alitalia brand will remain Italian. “They forbade us to buy it, so simply and – Lazzerini said – A call will be made. It was an avoidable condition. It is not said that it will be ours. We will do everything to take the mark. It is a piece of history with the colors of the Italian flag “.
Lazzerini also does not exclude international partnerships, in order to make the Italian air reality more solid. “Being alone is absolutely not possible,” says the CEO of Ita. There are two groups with which negotiations have already begun: “If you enter Lufthansa you access the companies of the Star Alliance group and the other party we are talking to is the Delta-Air france-KLM-Virgin group which have their own cross-shareholding and are part of Sky Team “. Negotiations” are well underway “, but” the goal is to be able to have clear ideas before the start in which of the two worlds we will be “.
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